We who are alive are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Paul addresses in today’s reading something that was by no means a minor issue in the early Church just as it is today. Jesus promises us life in abundance (in its fullness) in John 10:10, but what exactly does that mean? How should Jesus’ promise of life in abundance be understood in the face of death? How can God choose mortal human beings as instruments of God’s glorious and eternal ministry? How can God’s glorious ministry be reflected in imperfect beings who are themselves subject to suffering and death? How can God’s treasure be held in corruptible vessels?
To Paul, it is precisely in the imperfection/corruption of human persons that God’s glory is exhibited. For the glory of God is seen in the transformation that takes place when life triumphs over death/suffering. The glory of God is seen when  they are afflicted but not constrained, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. The human individual himself becomes the covenant. But Paul also wants the attention not to stop at the human person himself. He wants his hearers to look beyond the uplifted human person to the force behind the uplifting.